Petrology and Mineral Resources of the Wind Mountain Lagcolith, Cornudas
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335 The Carudian M iner alog ist Vol. 34, pp.33s-347(1,996) PETROLOGYAND MINERALRESOURCES OFTHE WIND MOUNTAIN LAGCOLITH, CORNUDASMOUNTAINS. NEW MEXICO AND TEXAS VIRGINIA T. McLEMORE. VIRGIL W. LT]ETH ANDTIM C. PBASE NewMeico Bureauof Minesand Mineral Resources, 801 l-eroy Place, Socorro, New Mertco 87801, U.SA. JAMES R. GTIILINGER AddwestMinerals, Inc., 546A Ward Roal, Suite370, Anada, Colorado80002, U.S.A. ABsrRAc"r The Wind Mountain laccolith is one of many intrusive bodiesfound in the CornudasMountains. These intrusive bodies comprisethe nortlern part of the Trans-Pecosalkaline magmaticprovince in southemNew Mexico and southwestemTexas. Ten laccoliths and stocks, along with numelous dikes, sills, and smaller plqs of varying textures,have infuded Permian limestoneand other sedimentaryrocks in the ComudasMountains axea. Nepheline syenite predominates, although phonolite, trachyte,and syenite are conmon The Wind Mountain laccolith is texturally and mineralogically zoned whereasthe other intrusivebodies in the ComudasMountains seem homogeneous. Wind Mountain consistsof two textural varietiesof nepheline syeniteporphyry and four textural varieties of syenite porphyry. The zonationis attributed to crystal fractionation, volatile separation,and cooling history, not to different pulsesofmagma. Feldsparcrystallization under initially hypersolvusconditions can accountfor most of the chemicalvariation in the volumetically lmger nephelinesyenite zones. Subsolvus conditions of feldspar crystallization,coupled with the separationof a volatile phase,was responsiblefor the chemical and mineralogical variation within the capping syenite units, which form a rind at the top of the pluton. The CornudasMountains have been examined for potential economic deposits of gold, silver, beryllium, rnre-eaxthelements, niobium, and uranium, but no production has occurred.The nephelinesyenite porphyry at Wind Mountain is being consideredas raw material for use in dark-coloredglass, flatglass, and ceramics. Keywords:Cornudas Mountains, 14'io4 146mtain Laccolith,nepheline syenite, syenite, alkaline rocks, New Mexico, Texas. Solvlulns The laccolite de Wind Mountain est un panni plusieurs massifs intrusifs affleurant dans les montagnesComudas, d I'extr6mit6nord de la provincemagmatique alcaline de Trans-Pecos,dans le sud du Nouveau-Mexiqueet le sud-ouestdu Texas. En tout dix laccoliteset plutons, ainsi que plusieursfilons, filons-coucheset petits massifsa texture variable recoupentles calcaireset autresroches s6dimentaires d'dge permien de la r6gion. La sydniten6ph6linique est pr6dominante,quoique la suite contient aussi phonolite, fachyte et sy6nite. l€ pluton de Wind Mountain, le plus imposant, est zon6 en texture et en min6ralogie,tandis que les autresmassifs intrusifs semblentplutdt homogbnes.Nous ddcrivonsdeux vari6t6stexturales de sy6nite ndphdliniqueporphyrique et quatre vari6t6s de sy6nite porphyrique. la zonation semble due d la cristallisation fractionn6e,la sdparationd'une phase volatile, et le taux variablede refroidissement,plut6t qu'i desvenues distinctes de magma. I,a crisrallisationde feldspathi desconditions tout d'abordhypersolws peut expliquerla plupart de la variation chimiqueparmi les diffdrentesvenues volumineuses de sy6nitendph6linique. les conditions propices d une cristallisation subsolws et d la s6parationd'une phase volatile rendentcompte des variations chimique et min6ralogiqueparrni les unit€ssup6rieures ale sy6nite, qui constituentune carapaceau sommetdu massif.La chalneCornudas a fait I'objet de recherchespour des anomaliesen or, axgent,b6ryllium, teres rares,niobium et uranirtm, mais sa:rsd6couvertes dignes d'exploitation.R6cemmenl on a initi6 un programmed'exploration et de d6veloppementde la sy6niten6ph6linique porphyrique pour sonpotentiel dans la fabricationde verre fonc6, velre en panneaux,et c6ramique;ce mat6riauaurait aussiun potentieldans la fabrication de granulespour toitures et d abrasifs,et dansI'industrie des pierres tai116es. (Traduil par la R6daction) Mots-cl6s: chalne de montagnesCornudas, laccolite de Wind Mountain, syenite n6phdlinique,sy6nite, roches alcalines, Nouveau-Mexique,Texas. 336 TIIE CANADIAN MINERALOGIST INTRoDUcnoN bodiesrepresent the northernexlent ofthe Trans-Pecos magmatic province. The Cornudas Mountains were Wind Mountain is one of ten Tertiary intrusive origrnally mapped in the early 1940s and 1950s as alkaline bodies that form the CornudasMountains in homogeneousplutons or laccoliths (Zapp 1941,Timm the Otero andDiablo plateausin soutlern New Mexico 1941,Clabaugh l94l,Warnet et al. 1959).Subsequent and southwestern Texas (Frg. 1). These intrusive petrological and geochemicalstudies along with JicarillaMountains @ @gapitan- a Mountains Qiena@ trtanca Orogrande I Une SeparatingAlkalic and Alkali-calcicFields a- \o, Trans-Pecos TexasMagmatlc Belt Mountains 0 50 | 00km llttl $ Big Bend Flc. l. Trans-Pecosmagmatis pl6yince, New Mexico and Texas(modified from Barker 1987,Price et al. 1.987).The inset nap showsthe Nor0r ArnericanCordilleran belt of alkaline igneousrocks (Woolley 1987,Mutschler et al. l99l). TT{E WIND MOT]NTAIN LACCOLITH. NEW ME)(ICO _ TEXAS 337 examinationof the Wind Mountain nephelinesyenite GEoLocIcALSrrrnqc by geologistsof Addwest Mnerals, Inc. revealedthat this unit is texfurally and mineralogically zoned Wind Mountain is one of ten larger sills, plugs, and (Mclemore & Guilinger 1993,Mclemore et aI. L994, laccoliths (Table 1, Fig. 2) and smallerdikes andplugs 199O. in the Cornudas Mountains that intrude relatively The purposeof this paper is to 1) summarizethe flat-lying limestone and other sedimentaryroctrs of petrology and mineralogy of the Wind Mountain the Hueco Limestone and Bone Spring Limestone laccolith, 2) describe the zones in the laccolith, @ermian).Other dikes, sills, and plugs are buried by 3) determinethe causeof zonation, and 4) describe sedimentarycover, as indicatedby subsurfacedrilling the mineral resourcepotential. (King & Harder 1985), geophysicalsurveys, and stuctural anomalies(i.e., anticlines,synclines, faults) REcIoNALSnrrr,ta in the overlying sedimentaryrocks. These intrusive bodiesvary in size from less than 700 m to 2.5 km in The Cornudas Mountains and the Trans-Pecos diameter.Wind Mountain is one of the largest@g. 2), magmatic province form part of the southern with a reported thickness of 0.25 km, an area of portion of the North American Cordilleran alkaline 4.3 ffi, and a minimum volumeof 1.1 km3 (Barker igneous belt. This belt is a diffrrse region of et a\.1977). Cenozoic igneous rocks tlat extends along the Barker et al. (1977) divided the fthologies found in eastern maryin of the North American Cordillera the Trans-Pecosmagmatic province into nine qpes on from Alaska and British Columbia southward into the basis of mineralogy and texture: 1) nepheline- Trans-PecosTexas and eastern Mexico (Fig. l; bearing augite syenite,2) nepheline-bearingtrachyte, Barker 1987,Mutschler et al. L985, 1991,Woolley 3) syenite, 4) nepheline syenite, 5) porphyritic r987). nephelinesyenite, 6) phonolite,7) foliated porphyritic The Trans-Pecosmagmatic province is a regional nepheline syenite, 8) quartz-bearing syenite, and belt of alkaline and metalumin6usigneous rocks that 9) quartz-bearingtrachyte. All nine types axefound in lie within an area defined by the Rio Grandeon the the Comudas Mountains; however, the predominzff west and south, the PecosRiver on the east, and an lithology is porphyritic nephelinesyenite. The largest east-westline approximately12 km north of the state laccoliths consistof dark gray to pink, fine- to coarse- boundary betweenNew Mexico and Texas (Frg. 1). gained equigranularto porphyritic nephelinesyenite. The province containsmore than 200 intusive bodies TABII 1. DESRIPNOTT OF IA\TBOUS INIRUSIVE BODIES having an outcroparea exceeding 1 km2(Barker 1977, tN TIIB OORNT'DAS MOUNIAINSI 1979, L987). The Trans-Pecosmagmatic province is the easternlimit of Cenozoic magmatic activity N@ Preddd R@ ASg in southwesternUnited Statesand Mexico. The mag- Iii.loly hlvta matism occurred in the region nearly continuously Al@ ph@Ute,btaled dtud@tde€t 36,810.6 B& a d. Agm, }I@t!h pGdrttfrc ls!frslhs 6 dn (K/Ar @ Ad@8lr(1941),9@y from 48 to 17 Ma @rjceet aI. 1987).Compositions of sydc hiodF) d aL (1916.) igneousrocks vary from alkalinein the easternportions Fl.al T@ Fs{!o, qldte f, Etu a at. (Ym, of the province, including the CornudasMountains, Mlcdah stldte dlb qab@!!091) to calc-alkalinewestward into Mexico (Fig. 1; Barker O@d6 phgqllmlih 34.6i1J Beds a aI. QYm, et al. L977 Barker& Hodges1977, Barker 1987, Price M@!to Itotu,E€4ff& (K/Ar@ @(1911),Estdaf , tEdn/to bioee) & Henry 1984,Cameron & Cameron1985,Pice et al. O98O 1987,Clark 1989). Wiid !@lhe sy€e. l@lih Btu a aL QCm, M@rh S@lllqDc@e W@€td. (1959), Early genetic interpretationssuggested an analogy llf'bgltoe ryld, fr&f@&Cdqq between the Trans-Pecosprovince and the Kenya 0993) portion of (Barker SeAdo nsddhecy@no I@&b TtBn (1941), the East African rift 1977). I\rl@lsh BM d el.(lrTD However, subsequentwork has shown that much of De6 *OlEta syrdb plogo la@lh 33.0t 1.4 Eatu d aL Qgm, the Cenozoic faulting in Trans-PecosTexas, earlier Mo@h Gl/Ar@ qabmsh(rg4r, P50), consideredto be associatedwith rifting, actually post- 0ltlel?id bto&e E@y 6 aI (lW lrlde) datesigneous activity @arker 1987,Henryet al. l99l). magmatic Cbaifeld d@lile dtl - Tno094l),8!rtE6t Trans-Pecos activity beganat the end of the lloqtrto d.Qqm Laramide compressionaltectonic period and may be Blar* lo(cryltrc !6!eelhe dll - Berts 4